Just Like Pill
by phantonlikegirl
Summary: OK, this is only with Renji as he is parted form the Bleach series and sort of becomes just a simple character. however his story here is interesting. He really falls in love...


'_If everyone cared and nobody cried; if every loved and nobody lied; if everyone shared and swallowed their pride, then we'd see the day when nobody died…'_

She took the metro to fix up her date with her father.

Her parents were now finally divorced and even though this was arranged without her consent, she seemed rather absent-minded about that.

She had other problems to think about.

First of all, this was her first time going with the subway to her and her father's date.

They were supposed to meet at the cinema somewhere at six or seven subway stations.

She had always taken the bus to where the meeting with her dad was supposed to take place. Until now. Apparently, the region was now in constructions outside, so the busses weren't available. She had to take the subway.

She didn't forget to take her personalized t-shirt. She got it from her father last time they met, as in a few months ago. It was a plain black t-shirt (her father knew that his daughter absolutely loved the color black combined with dark-red), with a gothic-like dark-red writing saying something like _Save me from being able to say "I'm alright!"_. She loved what it meant, even though it wasn't exactly an excellent phrase.

She also did not forget her mp3 player, which her mom bought for her 14th birthday. That means rather a year ago. Yap, she was 15 years old and she didn't seem to agree to the phrase which said "your 15s are the best!' from her point of the view, she believed her 15s sucked.

She was slightly fat, but harmoniously formed, as to show plenty of sign about her gender, as a female.

Her mom often mocked her for wearing too much black, but this color not only did it make her look thinner, but it also formed a seductive 15-year-old female form.

And she was beautiful. She got that from her handsome father, with his shrewd-like wolf eyes, sharp and light purple. Her dark auburn hair was taken from her mother.

She simply defined both her parents in physical features. Not in spiritual, though.

If her mother was as stubborn as a mule and was as strong as a tigress, she wasn't anything but that. If her father was altruist and cared to do anything for the benefit of staying with both his feet on the ground, she wasn't anything like that. In simple words, she was timid, quiet, indifferent and rather absent-minded, like she was lost somewhere in space.

Her grades were fine, but her oral classes weren't, due to her complete silence and full shyness. Her mother took her to a shrink once. Nothing worked. She stayed all those two hours in complete silence.

She dreamt of a lot of things, but never to get back on earth.

Still, society wasn't at all her weak point. She knew what train, what bus and what road to take in the subway, just to get to somewhere. She knew everything about politics and modern life. She wasn't lost in time, just lost in space. People easily thought that she might be misanthropic and a little bit ignorant, but she was just living her life in a quiet manner, not much to say about anything.

She took the right underground and as she took a seat to the left of the left gate, she started to listen to her mp3 player, while watching the people around and noticing a few things about them. They weren't remarkable. Most of them were youngsters, rather thinking that their styles were cool (to her point of view, they mostly looked like clowns), talking and laughing about the coolest mobiles, the coolest girls, some boys' girlfriends and other crap.

Other people were the old ones, mostly returning from their shopping in the nearby market-place. And the other rest seem to be men more or less weirdly dressed, going to work or for a simple walk. Excepting the old ladies, she seemed to be the only one young from her female gender.

She had reached a compartment where there was a large group of 8 or 9 boys laughing their guts out stupidly and loudly.

Further away, there was this weird young man, not included in that group because he seemed older, rather 25 or maybe even 27 or so.

If the boys all had weird haircuts, with uncanny green-light or blue or grey locks, this man seemed to be red-haired, with a stuffy pony-tail and weird eyebrows, with odd tattoos on top of both eyes, covered with a ripped-off colored cloth, like a bandage. His eyes suggested danger and evil, they were very sharp and simply black.

He was good looking and very tall, compared to her, listening to some rock music through his large earphones.

He slightly had a lot more than just three colors on him, but his outfit, rebel and relaxed she thought to be cooler than the other younger boys'.

He seemed to ignore everyone else in the compartment, even though he was sitting beside an old lady, which didn't seem to mind his rather loud music, since she wore an instrument for hearing. So, the old lady was deaf.

She looked around again, and then started to dream into the song she was listening and started to move her eyes in the rhythm of the melody.

You could easily think that she was dreaming, out of space.

It was the fourth station and while the sub-train went on for the next, her phone rang.

She felt it vibrating silently in her left pocket. She got it out and noticed that her father was calling her.

'Yeah, dad?'

'Hi, honey, is this you?'

'yeah. What is it?'

'Sweetie, I'm going to be a bit late. But I'll definitely come, don't worry.' (she rolled her eyes in the air exhausted)'Just wait for me there. If the movie starts without me, just get in, I'll meet you there, ok, love?'

'Y-yeah…'

She wanted to close, since her father finished talking. Suddenly, she heard him clearing his throat intentionally.

'What?'

'Honey… you believe me when I say I'll be there, don't you?'

There was alight tensioned silence between them, during which the underground stopped for the fifth station.

'Y-yeah, dad… I… I believe you…'

She suddenly felt a heavy body dropping hard on the chair next to hers and hiding her accidentally on her right side.

Her father closed the conversation, so she had the time to see who the idiot next to her was. It was a man of his 40s or 50s. he didn't seem rich, since his clothes all smelled like chemistry and dirt. It was as if he hadn't taken a bath in years. His one-blue-eye-and-one-brown-eye sight watched the surroundings of the compartment until he also reached hers. He was ugly. He had an ugly scar on the left of his cheek.

'Hello there, missy!' he burst joyfully and he grinned. It was stupid mistake since her nose was suddenly violently struck by a powerful smell of drugs and smoke and too much alcohol.

She briefly turned her gaze away, as to suggest the man next to her that she didn't even see him.

His hands started to move up and down, like dancing a weird rhythm and often hit her thighs not so nicely, from her point of the view.

He carried a small plastic bag, with something like dust inside it. He must have been a lost world's doctor, since he smelled like chemical substances and wore such a weird medical bag with him. Still, she didn't feel like having a conversation with a guy like him now. So, she tried to ignore him.

He started to hum a weird child's song, loud. So loud, that most of the people around him watched him rather confused and scared. She moved away from him immediately, with one seat.

'You don't wanna sit next to me, missy?' he asked joyfully. 'Why not? I ain't bad! I ain't weird! I ain't gonna harm you!'

His loud voice clearly gave the impression that this man didn't know where he was living most of his days.

She watched the surroundings, with her eyes, as to suggest to someone to help her.

She swiftly met the 8 or 9-boys group, who, after meeting her eyes started to laugh amused. She then met the weird young man's eyes. His frowning look didn't comfort her with anything. She looked at the entrance door. It was about to open up and release for the sixth station. Her stop.

She swiftly got up from her chair and went outside of the compartment.

The man got up also and followed her bursting out loud:

'Wait, don't go, missy! I'll be your guide, you need a guide, yes you do!'

She ignored him. She even tried to ignore the fear that possessed her the moment she felt him following her. she could feel the sight of most of the people around them, as the man in her back continued on following her up the stairs and outside the subway entrance, with his loud voice calling her "missy".

She didn't' need a madman following her right now. She already had a bad life. She tried to part from him as fast as she could, by fastening her steps. Nothing. He was still following her, calling her familiarly:

'Hey, stop there, missy! I ain't bad! I ain't weird! I ain't dangerous! Stop, stop, stop!'

He seemed to be amused by this awkward situation. She wasn't she already passed the cinema, trying to get away from him. the accident she did was to take her right and fall into a narrower street, all alone, with her follower.

His feet were heard fastening so he could reach up. Her legs hurt her.

She was afraid.

Suddenly, he grabbed her right arm, she screamed shortly and he burst out as loud as before, amused:

'I ain't bad! I ain't mad! I ain't weird!'

Holding her arm firmly, he immobilized her and got out from his weird plastic bag a syringe, which he stuffed into that white dust.

She started to scream and fight off, but it was rather impossible since she was small seized and not strong enough to take him down. She got really scared, as he saw that he checked the syringe for some sort of liquid.

'You'll like this, this, yes! Ha, ha, ha!'

He stuffed the needle into her flesh, as he pushed the edge of the syringe inside it. It harmed her, since he pushed something forcedly inside her muscles. It was like too much water-pressure into her tissues. It paralyzed her arm for a few minutes, during which he pulled the syringe off and as he swiftly started to run, he laughed:

'You'll love it, love it, yes, you will! Ha, ha, ha!'

She tried to calm down. She felt dizzy, all of a sudden. What the hell did that madman drew into her? She looked around, breathing heavily, as she swiftly felt like suffocating. Her head was hurting her, like someone was continuously hitting her.

She looked around. Her sight became blurry. She couldn't see well. She tried to blink a couple of times and she tried to move. Her muscles felt weak, since she rapidly grabbed the wall next to her. Her purple eyes watched her back. There was someone there, at the corner of the street, who was watching her. She could only see something like the shape of a reddish ruffled pony tail.

She didn't see anything else. Her brain just collapsed into unconsciousness.

She woke up in too much white light. There was a beep in her ears every 5 seconds. People talking silently and the smell of medical substances… she was in a hospital.

She opened her eyes better and saw that her mother rapidly got on her feet, checking her forehead for temperature. The woman seemed very worried:

'Kayame? Honey, are you awake? Can you hear me?'

She tried to say "yes" to her mother, but it seemed that her muscles have been inert since now and they still refused to obey her. Still, she succeeded in lifting her left finger as an affirmative answer.

Her mother laughed, as her eyes became wet:

'Yokata… Kayame-chan… oh, my dear Kaya…'

Her mother hugged her lightly.

She then, saw a doctor coming in. he was smiling too.

A few days later, she was able to rather lift herself up from her hospital bed. Her mother had taken the week off for that matter so most of the days, Kayame saw her at her hospital bed.

The woman now was knitting something, while her daughter was enjoying her meal.

'M-mom…?'

'Yes, my dear?'

'Am I going out of here?'

Her mother smiled, as she put away the scarf that she was knitting for her daughter:

'Of course you are, Kayame! The doctor said that the drugs are fully gone from your tissues now. Luckily that bastard tried that damn thing only in a small quantity. You're alright, aren't you, Kaya?'

'Yes, I am, mom… I feel better…'

She didn't fully feel better. She knew that now her muscles were weaker than before. Perhaps she could skip a few P.E. classes.

'Mom?'

'Hm?'

'Who brought me in? Do you know that?'

Her mother again stopped from knitting, as she looked in the void thoughtfully.

'Well' she started rather unsure, 'I believe the doctors know best. He did say it was a young man, rather weirdly looking, but he couldn't catch his name. Anyway, he must have been someone nice, since he brought you here, where you were properly taken care of. I shall be forever grateful to him for saving my daughter's life'

Her mother smiled gently, as she caressed her cheek tenderly. Kayame felt good about that. Still, she was sad. She couldn't dare to ask about her father at this very moment. Her mother might get upset. Still, she bit her inferior lip:

'M-mom…?'

'Hm?'

'W-what about dad…?'

There was a tensioned silence after that question. Kayame felt that her inquiring had upset her mother since the woman was not moving her fingers anymore. Her gaze was fixed on her scarf.

'Don't talk about that right now, Kayame' she answered finally, with a low and slightly serious voice.

She kept quiet after that. Kayame felt that something had happened, during her unconsciousness in the hospital.

Two weeks later, things were going back to normal.

Kayame continued on going to school, this time skipping the P.E. classes, which she didn't actually preferred either. She didn't see her father, nor did she spoke about him, in the presence of her mother.

The wallet was missing, so she got prepared to redo all of her important documents, which was quite nasty, but in the end, the correct thing.

She often felt the right arm hurting her in the spot where the madman had stroked her. She seldom watched her back, to check for other weird people, and she feared of getting some kind of illness from this dangerous incident. Still, she regularly went to the doctor for her full recovery and he assured her every time that she was perfectly healthy and very lucky to have not been seriously harmed.

Alas, things weren't so simple to continue as such.

It was a sunny Saturday, three weeks after the incident.

She had just finished her bath and was about to get dressed and prepare to study for her history exam two days from now.

She had just eaten her favorite pancakes which her mother had prepared for her this morning, so she felt rather good and optimistic.

As she got out of her bathroom, she heard her mom calling her.

'Yeah?'

'Come down for a few minutes, please!'

'Right away, mom!'

She rapidly put something on, a pair of simple jeans and the black t-shirt from her dad. As she descended the stairs, she suddenly sensed something like a nice male's aftershave, kind of like her father's.

Was her dad here?

She saw that in the hallway, there was no one there. She met her mother's gaze:

'He's at the door, honey.'

The tone of voice of the woman was calm and rather light. So, it wasn't about her father. If it was, then her mother could have been upset, in fact maybe even refusing him to see his daughter.

She went at the doorway and opened it with a slight fear.

She startled surprised and puzzled. In front of her there lied a tall man, very tall compared to her, barely reaching his shoulders. His stuffy long reddish hair was gathered in a thick pony-tail, and his tattooed forehead was covered rebel-like by two different types of ripped-off cloths. Still, the colors on the two cloths reflected those on his baggy outfit.

She remembered him vaguely as being the young man in the underground, listening to some rock music through his large earphones, next to a deaf old lady.

He faintly raised a bit from one of his bandages on his forehead, as to check her physical appearance.

He then sniffed and added with a low and thick voice:

'This belongs to you, I believe.'

He handed her an old, weary black leathered wallet. She recognized it immediately.

Still, her surprise often got drowned by her muteness, so she didn't express her pleasant surprise in any way on the outside. She just received it, smiling shortly.

She didn't even seem to notice him again, until the door open widely, by someone in her back and she heard her mother:

'Honey, you should invite the young man in. after all, it seems he has returned something you lost.'

The woman smiled to him nicely, without at all minding his rather odd presence:

'Do come in, please…'

'Agh, well, no, thanks…' he added slightly embarrassed, but swiftly turned his gaze towards the girl shorter than him with a head and half of another one.

All she seemed was to be indeed pleased of the fact that her wallet had been returned safely into her hands.

She seemed to have forgotten the fact that there were other people with her too.

Her mother woke her up from this feeling of looseness, once she slightly touched her shoulder:

'Honey…'

'Wha…? Oh, yes…'

She jumped into a nice smile, watching the young man in front of her:

'Please, come in.'

The young man rather watched her silently and frowningly, but in the end, he shrugged his shoulders and came inside the house.

Kayame swiftly jumped onto the stairs, to return her wallet safely to her room. When she came down again, this time 15 or 20 minutes later, her mother was just about to ask the young man about his name.

'I'm Misamoto Renji.'

He didn't exactly smile about it, as if nothing could have pleased him at all. Still, he did grin to her mother, when the woman smiled back pleasantly, as she said:

'Well, it's nice to meet you then, Renji. As you told me before, I understand you are the one to have brought Kayame to the hospital?'

Both she and he startled at the same time, but out of different motives. Renji startled because he had heard the little lady's name for the first time and Kayame had startled for the fact that _he_ was the one to practically save her life.

Only her mother remained rather motionless to such reactions, continuing joyfully:

'I must say I am very grateful to you. Thank you very much, Renji-san.'

'Yeah, well…'

He rather seemed embarrassed, even though his entire somewhat frightening appearance didn't give the impression that he might be the type to easily blush.

He heard the little girl's steps to his back and slightly turned his face to see her. She was holding her right arm for a reason or another and she did seem to be in some kind of pain, since her gaze was resting on the ground.

'She's also grateful to you, Renji' her mother added. 'Aren't you, Kayame?'

She kept quiet, only nodding.

'Oh, dear, does it hurt you again?' the woman asked concerned and quickly grabbed her daughter's shoulder, as to rub the painful spot on the girl's right arm.

'I'm sorry' she excused herself in front of him. 'Kayame doesn't say much, you know… a, please, take a seat somewhere.'

Renji felt like he had chosen a stupid moment. He thought that he shouldn't have interrupted such an intimate moment, but it was something which he had not thought about.

In the end, he did as he was told.

He took a seat on the sofa, in the living-room. He started to watch the surroundings thoughtfully. It was a nice interior, simple and modern, with not too many things gathered in one place.

It was cool inside and without too many different smells, the kind that come from cooking, washing or even house-working.

Next to him remained the girl, Kayame who was still holding her fingers into her other ones, rather quiet and stiff.

He somewhat felt the need to bash the silence between them:

'So… you're…'

'… Kayame…'

'… Kayame… I'm Renji, you heard that, I suppose…'

She only nodded and sat next to him on the couch. Her polite position, as well as her shy look on the floor suggested him that she wasn't the type to actually converse with people.

Soon, her mother came back to the living room with a plate that carried some coffee:

'I took the liberty of putting some milk into yours, Renji-san. I'm sorry if you didn't wish that…'

'Oh, no, thank you, that's nice of you…'

The woman put the plate on the table and then watched her daughter:

'Honey, you should say something to him, you know. He's a guest here and we can't afford to keep things quiet for now…'

She turned to look at him, rather smiling embarrassed:

'I apologize. My daughter isn't really the type to speak. She's not that sociable…'

'No problem' Renji gave her a swift smile.

Suddenly, the door-bell rang. Without hesitation, Kayame jumped to open the door.

When she did that, she kept stiff and quieter than before.

'Hey there, Kaya-chan…' her father stretched his arm to ruffle her hair.

Suddenly, someone pulled his daughter away from his arm, before his hand could barely touch the tip of her locks.

'What are you doing here?' Hama Kurame, her mother bumped rather disapprovingly.

'What do you mean what am I doing here?' her father bumped stupefied. ' I came to see my daughter!'

As her mother again gave her father a sharp and not so nice answer, she slipped through the woman's arms and went inside the house, where she came back to Renji's presence.

He noticed that the people at the entrance door started a fight, since loud voices appeared.

'You are not to see her anymore, Tobi!' her mother bumped angrily. 'You almost killed her, you jerk! You and your stupid job!'

'Don't talk like that in front of her, damn it, Hama! You know that I love her, you know that!'

'You were late! You were late and she got in trouble! _You're always late for the dates with her_!'

Renji felt like he really should not have been here right now. Still, when seeing the young lady that came inside the room again, with her sad look on the floor, he tried to guess how she felt when listening to her parents' ugly argument.

She sniffed, as if it was something normal.

'T-they always do this…' she muttered softly. 'They're divorced…'

'… I don't care about what you were about to do back then! I just don't care! You left Kayame to deal with something alone, you bastard! How dare you come here, after a month to "just see how she's doing"? is she a puppet to you, Tobi? Damn you, bastard!'

'Calm down, Hama!'

'I am not going to calm down, you hear me!? I am not!...'

'You wanna go for a walk?' Renji asked all of a sudden, without any plans in mind.

She seemed to startle, since no one of male gender had ever asked her for a walk in private. She rather blushed, as she drew her gaze down again:

'O-ok…'

He got up on his feet and sort of measured her with his look. She was indeed shorter than him with a head and half of another one. And she seemed to slightly pass her 15s, but no more than that.

On top of that, she was quite the model for the type of gender that she was. And her face was beautiful. At least when looking at him and not on the floor.

She turned to the door and went out of the house, avoiding both her parents' looks, without saying anything else and she waited for him to follow her.

As Renji was just making through the two types of screaming, he suddenly heard her mother bursting:

'… You left me alone there, damn it, Tobi! Your own daughter was drugged and could've died, you bastard! Why are you being like this?!?'

He startled unpleasantly surprised and his gaze fell on the girl in front of him.

So, that's why she seemed rather pale and weak, regardless of the weight of her body…

And that's why she kept on seeming so dreaming-like.

Her father burst out something back, just to defend himself, but Renji continued his way.

He finally understood now why she had fallen on the ground that day.

Now, looking at her better, she did appear to have the constitution of a sick person.

She didn't say anything. It was probably because of the fact that she also heard her mother's screams and figured out that the young man had finally realized her problem. She turned to go on ahead.

For the next half hour, he was always one or two steps ahead of her. And he was looking around, watching the people activities, like he had been alone in this passing time.

She was walking slowly and holding her head down, quietly.

At one point, they reached a park where most couples of this town came. They were everywhere, kissing and hugging and smooching, so most of the benches were occupied.

When passing a small bridge over a small artificial river, leading in the center to a beautiful artesian waterfall, Renji finally found a bench that was empty and slightly intimate.

He sat on it relaxed.

She took a seat next to him, but with the same polite position.

'So…' he started again, 'you know this park, don't you?'

She denied quiet.

'Aha…hey, a… how old are you anyway?'

'15… you?'

'Oh, I'm going on 21 this month.'

'R-really?' she burst out rather vivid but rapidly backed up, as if she had done a mistake.

'Yeah!' he answered watching her frowningly. 'Why? You thought I was older?'

He smiled amused, as she nodded softer and shyer.

'How old?' he inquired somewhat amused.

'2-27…'

'Wow! I look that old?!' he burst out laughing.

'N-no!' she jumped as if she was trying to fix up a huge mistake she had done. 'G-gomen…'

'It's ok, I don't mind. I've been told I was older than I look. Don't mind me saying, but you also look younger than just 15.'

She put her back to rest against the support of the bench.

'W-what do you do for a living?' she asked vividly.

'Well, I work at a comic book agency. I draw comic books.'

'Really?'

Kayame turned her purple gaze towards him slightly smiling enthusiastically.

'Y-you mean you can draw?'

'Yeah, I guess that's what it means' Renji answered amused. 'You, I suppose, are still in high school…'

'Y-yes, I am.'

'And you like it? I know I didn't. It sucked, from my point of view… I skipped most of my classes.'

He smiled amused again.

When looking at her again, he noticed that she had watched him during his speech, but now she had turned her face away shyly, as she said:

'W-well, I can't say I like it either. B-but it's ok…'

'Aha…'

He sniffed somewhat serious and said:

'Look, you're ok right now, aren't you? I mean…'

She startled again and she lifted her soft, deer-like purple eyes towards him. She smiled jadedly:

'Y-yes… Th-thank you for asking…'

Her smile told him a different answer than that which she had given him. She completely had the look of a very sick and weakened person. It was devastating, yet fascinating (in a morbid way) what effects drugs could have on some people's blood system.

Apparently, if your immune system was weaker, no matter the physical appearance, drugs for the first time could have been the most dangerous thing. It wasn't her case, but it was close enough.

She again grabbed her right arm and looked down on the ground sadly.

He didn't know what exactly to say:

'It hurts you?'

'N-no… I-it doesn't…'

He didn't say anything else, after that. As he looked around, he saw many couples making out, others just setting loose a bench just to go for a walk. Some were walking their dogs or children and some were just fooling around. Everyone seemed to be happy with each other.

As her eyes also lifted up to watch the people around, she suddenly caught the sight of something which apparently hid behind some bushes rather far away from their spot. She frowned her gaze confused.

Suddenly, she unpleasantly startled, as a man's head came out from those bushes, smiling sweetly.

He continued on coming out, until he fully revealed himself.

He then turned to her and started to walk towards them

She petrified there and it wasn't at all to the young man's sight to see her sudden fright.

Renji only saw an older man than him coming towards them with a pleasant smile.

'Ah, there you are!' the man burst out joyfully, as he stretched his arm towards Kayame.

'Excuse me' burst Renji confused. 'You know her?'

'Of course I do! And she knows me! Don't you, little missy?'

She opened her mouth to say something but the words couldn't come out. Her muscles refused to move or do anything as to tell people who this man really was.

He was the one that did that to her that day…

Renji didn't seem to recognize him, as he slightly smiled:

'Ok, then… a, Kayame-san, forgive me, but I have to go now. I've got some work to do, ok? See you around.'

Already accustomed to her shy and quiet manner of being, he forgot to even look at her to see her reaction towards the new-comer. He only got up and left the bench, fully secured that he wasn't leaving her alone.

'Little missy…'

Suddenly, she screamed when the foreign fingers touched her shoulder.

Renji turned around frightened and saw, as everyone else did (surprised and also scared) that the girl was now trembling visibly, as the man in front of her wouldn't put away his hand.

'Keep quiet now, little missy…!' he tried again to touch her, but as soon as he made a closer move with his fingers towards her shoulder, she screamed again frightened and trembled even harder.

'Hey!' Renji interfered seriously. 'What are you doing to her?'

He saw that her hand resting on the wooden bench was trying to stretch and move her body away from this man.

Renji looked better at his face. He startled:

'Hey, I know you… you're that…'

As soon as his mind identified his face with the guy in his memory, he pointed himself protectively in front of her:

'Get away from her.'

'Hey, little missy…' the man seemed to ignore him and stretched his arm to grab her, but she screamed again, covering her body with her arms.

'I said get away from her' Renji growled angry, as he watched the man ugly.

The man also watched him, slightly confused. Then, he smiled and backed up. He turned his gaze towards her:

'You liked it, didn't you, missy? You did, you did! Ha, ha, ha!'

He started to run along the alley, laughing crazily, while people watched him frightened or confused.

Checking up until the man was out of sight, Renji then turned towards the girl.

She was seriously trembling, covering her head with her arms.

'It's ok now… he's gone' he said softer.

He stretched his hand to touch her and felt her startling a bit when touching her shoulder.

'It's ok, he's gone…' he repeated again, as he slowly took a seat on the bench, next to her.

She started to calm down, as she let her arms off.

'G-g-gom-men…' she muttered, still shaking.

'You don't have to apologize. I'm sorry I was an idiot not to recognize him from the start.'

He got up on his feet:

'C'mon, I'll take you home safely.'

He stretched his hand and waited for her own to be given to him.

She did so after a few minutes of trying to calm down her trembling.

He soon received a rather tiny hand, compared to his and it was so soft and it seemed to be fully made out of velvet skin.

He held it carefully, not as to hurt it, until she was on her feet in front of him.

He then put her arm around his and started to walk her outside the park.

'Th-thank you…' she added softer, much softer than usual. It was clear that this sudden event had disturbed her deeply.

'Welcome' he smiled tenderly. He rarely did that, so it was a funny thing to him. But for her, it made her rather blush and again turn her gaze down on the ground, shyly.

'You should talk to the police about this, you know' he said later on, when they were on the streets. 'It's not right for a fucking bastard like this guy to annoy you like this.'

'M-my mother did that the second day I got to the hospital. They didn't do anything until now and it upsets her…'

It was as if she was accustomed to such a behavior coming from other people. It wasn't right. It wasn't right at all.

'Well, they're a bunch of idiots! Fucking psychos running around the streets and all they do is just move their mouths…'

He looked at her, as she continuously watched the ground.

'I-it's ok… I… I d-don't have anyone to help me… I-I l-live alone with mom now… and I used to visit dad once in a while. B-but he was always late… just as back that day… t-that's why mom blames him.'

She kept quiet after that.

'You blame him?' Renji asked all of a sudden, matter-of-factly.

The girl didn't answer quickly.

'N-no… I-I mean I don't know…'

'How long have they been divorced?'

'For… 10 years, I guess…'

'So, you grew with them separately?'

'Oh, n-no! they lived together for the sake of me until I was 10 or 11. After that they argued so much that they couldn't stand each other. S-so, my dad, one day, just disappeared. After a month, he gave me a letter, telling me where he was. After that, we started dating…'

'I see…'

Renji sniffed somehow pensively. He felt her tiny fingers playing softly with his coat's sleeve, as she held it with both hands, because his arm was way bigger than hers.

'You really don't have anyone to help you?' he asked.

'N-no…'

'You don't have any friends or other male relatives around?'

'N-no…'

'Souka…'

He sniffed.

'Well, I'll be your friend, then'

She startled visibly and looked at him confused:

'F-friend…?'

'Yeah. If you want to, that is.'

'R-really?'

'Yeah.'

She looked into his eyes with the same jaded purple gaze as before. She smiled softly and then continued on looking at the ground:

'Th-thank you…'

'You can call me Renji.'

'Renji…'

'And if you want to, I can take you anywhere you want, if you think that it's too dangerous with this junk to be alone, ok?'

'Th-thank you…'

'You're welcome.'

They stood quiet for a while, during which Renji looked around, trying to think of some other conversation-subjects. Nothing much came into his mind, since he had dealt only with "normal" women before: the vulgar or talkative or even energetic types. Not the quiet, shy and rather weaker types like this girl. Still, he didn't mind that type either; in fact, he sort of felt better with her quietness. He felt that whatever he would say, she could listen to him without blaming him or anything other than that.

He didn't feel that way for a long time. Especially not with a girl this young. Girls of her age, he thought they were all the same: superstitious, puppet-like faces and rather naïve.

Kayame Kurame didn't seem at all to be included in the same spot at all. She was rather romantic and shyer than anyone else he had ever met. She had too many problems to play the sweet doll-like girl. And she wasn't pretty as a puppet. She was beautiful. Not the kind that you could just touch one moment and then her fantasy was off. The type that once touched, could easily eat your thoughts and dreams and hopes for the sake of again be close to her once more.

Her sharp wolf's eyes gazed at things with sadness and despair of ever having a normal life like others. It was due to her personal problems that she seemed so dreaming-like and out of space.

Soon enough he found himself back to her place, as she stopped and also stopped him.

'W-we're here…' she said softly and smiled blushing.

'Oh, yeah, you're right…'

He felt her hands backing up from his arm and then he gazed at her, as she watched the ground.

'T-thank you for escorting me back home safely… Renji-s-san…'

'Welcome, Kayame…'

He drew his hands in his pockets, as he saw her furthering herself away from him and heading for the entrance of her house.

'Would you like me to come by tomorrow morning and pick you up for school?' he asked.

'N-no, thank you…'

'It won't be a problem, you know.'

'Y-yes, but n-no… I'll be fine…'

She shyly hid herself behind the door, with her cheeks blushing into rose red.

'Ok, then, Kayame… see you around' Renji smiled and then went ahead, on his way.

She closed the door behind her.

It was clear to him, as he once more turned his gaze to watch her house that he never once met such a person as her.

The next morning, she woke up and she got ready for school.

She didn't tell her mother anything about the incident that occurred yesterday and as such, she prayed that the moment she'd get out of her house she would safely to school and then return in the same secure manner.

She stopped at the bus station and waited there quiet, as she sometimes gazed secretly around for anyone suspicious to watch her.

The bus arrived in about ten minutes and it was somewhat crowded with people already, even though it was early in the morning.

She got inside it and because her schoolbag was rather heavy – she had a very elaborated project to do for today at her biology class – she searched for an open seat. After all, ever since she had left the hospital, her immune system weakened considerably and she often felt the need of taking things really slow and without too much effort.

There were a few boys in front of her laughing their guts out and refusing to sit on the only free seat left. She tried to take it, but one of them grabbed her arm:

'Hey, that's ours, girlie!'

'B-but you're not sitting on it…'

'Well, you ain't either. You ain't pregnant! Move it!'

That was a rude thing to suggest to her, that she was pregnant. She felt like punching the boy and in other occasions she might have been able to avenge herself, but now she couldn't. She felt too weak for that. She just let her face down, sadly, as she tried to listen to the calm music in her earphones. It was a mute song, with the kind of tonality which sensed somewhat ironical. It was as if someone was laughing at another one's misfortune.

She felt stupid and she left helpless.

Because of a mad bastard, her life had turned rather hard on her. She could have recovered, but not quickly and certainly not as before.

She could never be the same.

She backed up at the ending of the bus, in a father corner than the other passengers.

Her eyes watched the ground sadly, listening to the poignant music. The bus moved her so that it felt like swinging her softly, as to try and please her or at least ease her pain.

At one bus station, other people got off and other got in.

She heard steps but she didn't look at neither of the travelers.

Some footsteps stopped at her place and seem to face her.

'Hey there!' bumped a familiar, rather plain voice and she startled frightened. Her heart calmed down when seeing Renji Misamoto, the young man from yesterday.

'I didn't know you would take this bus too, in the morning' he added plainly, as he saw that other two seats were set loose by other people.

'Y-yes…' she answered shyly.

The boys rushed to the loosened seats and jumped on them joyfully.

The bus started to move again.

'A-are you going to work?' she asked rather lowly.

'Yeah, as a matter of fact I am. I have some unfinished business there. I suppose your high school isn't far from my agency, since we're going on the same route practically' he smiled vaguely.

He watched her in detail, slightly frowningly.

She wore a simple long velvet dress, in black, fitted with a plain t-shirt that had a "v" collar.

If the smell of lavender didn't come from outside, then it surely came from her.

Her hair was plain auburn, set loose and rather hiding half of her face.

He turned his gaze away from studying her, since his attention was merely driven by other women around him.

They were all older than the girl in front of him and most of them were beautiful, very elegant and attractive.

Their faces suggested high independency and somewhat trust in their own strengths.

When looking back at her, she didn't seem to suggest any of those things.

She was a tiny, young brat, with an incomprehensible shyness and fear – apparently – of males. Maybe it was due to her shyness.

But she must have had her own aces, since she had been born into this world for a certain relevance. She wasn't plain. And she wasn't that young. And she didn't seem to be stupid at all. And because she spoke poorly, he couldn't say either how independent she was. Yeah, maybe she had all of those in the end. Maybe even more.

'Listen, a…'

She startled and turned her curious gaze towards him.

He didn't notice her purple irises before. He barely opened his moth, as his gaze turned frowningly.

'How about if I take you home from school?' he asked plainly again.

'Y-you don't have to do that… I'll be fine, I suppose…'

'No, I wasn't suggesting that you wouldn't. It's just… oh, fuck…' he mumbled growling.

He suddenly heard some shy giggles and he let his look down confused. She was smiling. In fact she was laughing. Shyly and intimately, but she was laughing.

'This is probably the second time I heard you swearing…'she added smiling and for some reason or another, she made him blush.

'R-really?' he said. 'Well, I apologize…'

'It's ok. I don't mind. It's just that, in my class, boys swear worse than you do. It's ok.'

'Right…' he muttered. 'So…'

'Yes?' she again gazed at him curious.

'I'll come pick you up later, ok?' he said, this time sure of what he meant. He wasn't sure whether she had caught the message which he wanted to give her.

He was a man and she was a woman. It was simple.

She startled confused and then came back to blushing, while resting her purple stare at the floor:

'A-alright then, R-Renji…'

'Good. Ok, this is my stop. I'll see you later, ok?'

He ran to the door and got out in time, before it was to be closed again.

As the bus went on again, she watched him part from the bus station.

After school, she got out a bit later than usual, as she remained to also do her homework there.

It was almost half an hour since she was alone in the classroom, sometimes spilling out the solutions of her homework, thoughtfully.

She liked doing geometry and history at the same time. It was confusing for some, but for her, it wasn't. The equations were often mixed with events and sometimes the numbers on the grades of an angle was associated with the year of a certain event. Even though the mixing up was confusing, she liked to keep an order on both of them, therefore she never mixed them up.

In the end, after an hour, she was done and started to pack her things inside her schoolbag.

She put in on one of her shoulders and went outside her classroom.

Suddenly, just as she grabbed the banister of the stairs, a sweet-like voice mumbled:

'Hey, there, missy…'

She didn't even turn to see who it was. She burst into a wild running down the stairs, but the hand grabbed her on time. She fought back and ended up hitting herself hard of a wall.

She was blocked in between the wall and the man grinning madly in front of her.

'Hey there, missy… you liked it! You did, didn't you?'

'P-please…' she cried, trembling. Please, don't do this to me again… I don't want it… I didn't like it… please, leave me alone…'

As she cried and trembled, she fell on her knees and covered herself, scared:

'P-please…'

'Missy…'

The hand touched her disgustingly on her hair, caressing it.

'You'll like it…you will, you will…'

'P-please… leave me alone…'

She saw the syringe and screamed frightened:

'LEAVE ME ALONE!!!!'

She started to scream as loud as her lungs permitted her to, but the man grabbed both her arms, as he started to laugh:

'Come, dear! My greatest creation!'

She felt her sleeve being violently pulled off and her shirt was torn apart. As she struggled to both cover her body and also keep her arm away from the torturing needle, she screamed continuously:

'No! No, please, don't! NO!!!!'

She screamed and fought him as hard as she could, as she heard him laughing and pushing her arms away.

'You'll love it, my dear! You will!'

'Hey, you fucking bastard!'

Someone violently pulled him off of her and threw him on the other side of the wall.

'You sick demented psycho!' Renji burst out furiously.

Kayame quickly covered her chest, now trying to calm herself down, as she saw the young man posting himself in front of her protectively.

'You're sick, you fucking ass!'

'You'll like it, you will!' the other man smiled to her continuously, as he lifted up his syringe. 'The animal before you loved it, he did! He smelled like plague after that!'

She covered her ears, frightened.

'Get out of here and leave her alone, before I call the police. I'll kick your ass like you've never been fuckin' kicked in your life, you got that, freak?!'

Renji suddenly grabbed the man by his collar and growled to him ugly. In fact, he never gave anyone such a horrifying gaze before, which seemed to have touched the older man immediately, since he started to tremble for a reason or another.

'If you don't wanna die, you junk, you better move. Move as far away as you can before I kill you, you got that, you fuckin' creep?!'

Renji threw him violently to the wall, yelling angrily:

'Get outta here, junk!'

The older man quickly got up on his feet confused and frightened and started to run away form them, as fast as he could. He tripped a couple of times, but his determination to get away from that younger reddish man was stronger.

When seeing the man disappear, Renji turned towards her. He saw her still shaking rather violently on the floor, with the kind of look in the void which suggested massive turbulence.

He got off his coat with the fluffy fur collar and put it on her shoulders:

'C'mon, get up… it's ok now, he's gone… he's gone for good now…'

She trembled, while helping herself to get on her feet leaning against the wall.

'G-gone…' she murmured slowly.

'Yeah, he's gone. Let's go now, Kayame… c'mon…'

He didn't know whether she'd let him embrace her with his arm. Still, he had to help her out somehow, and one of the things was to help her get out of this building.

He grabbed her neck, embracing it with his arm and dragged her out.

She stood quiet all her way, with her head down and without saying anything as to give him a sign whether she was better than before.

Renji felt the need often of opening his mouth and say something, but he stopped at the right moment only to feel that whatever he'd say, it wouldn't be good.

When reaching her house, he opened the door for her and let her come in.

She rapidly rushed to her room, up the stairs, without addressing him anything.

It was the moment when naturally he would have gone back to his house and left her. But there was a note resting on the table. It was from her mother, saying that she had an urgent problem to attend to and that she would have to spend the night alone.

10 minutes later, when Kayame descended the stairs all dressed up in something else, and somewhat washed on her face, she still found Renji resting on the same couch as yesterday.

He saw her too and got up on his feet:

'Your mom's not home. She said you have to spend the night alone. I thought I might stay here for a while longer. If you want, I can go-'

'N-no, it's ok…'she mumbled shyly, as she came next to him and then sat on the couch.

'You're fine now, aren't you?' he asked, as he sat next to her.

'Y-yes… t-thank you, R-Renji-san… you saved me once more…'

'Yeah…'

It was quiet after that, during which she stretched him his coat:

'This belongs to you, I believe. Thank you for it…'

'Yeah, sure, no problem' he said rather vividly.

His frowningly serious gaze stopped at her.

She didn't watch him back because, feeling his stare, she somewhat felt like he was defying her. She couldn't bare the thought of being there alone, with him, when he was just staring at her like that. She kept quiet and stiff, though.

Her silenced and polite way of being there was something which reflected somehow the disturbances inside her soul.

'Kayame…?'

'Y-yes…?'

'Did he hurt you?'

She took a deep breath and answered shortly:

'N-no… other than trying to repeat what he had done that day… n-no…'

'What exactly did he do to you then?'

She startled, as she answered:

'He… he d-drugged me…'

She instinctively grabbed her arm, which had suffered back then.

'You're alright now, believe me.'

He sounded extremely sure of what he said. When she turned her shy purple stare to him, she could read coldness and determination in his sharp stare.

She watched him for a few minutes confused, after that she let down her eyes, softly.

He stopped her face with the tip of his two fingers. She startled, as a large gap took place inside her stomach, when feeling his gesture.

She was afraid to move her eyes to see what was going on. She just felt his fingers lifting her chin delicately, as his face drew closer to hers.

He met her lips, as they trembled frightened, no matter how tiny they were.

He kissed those foreign younger lips, which seem to continuously shake. She was rather frightened of what was happening to her.

Her fingers started to play around with her dress and she lied there quiet and polite, accepting obediently what he was doing to her. She didn't need to move her lips, since he did that most of the times, during those few minutes of silence.

In the end, he parted from her, letting her face do as it pleased, drawing away his fingers from her chin.

He didn't smile, but gave her a sharp and serious stare.

She let go of her look to the ground.

'You were alright with that, I believe' he said.

'Y-yes…'

Her answer came shy and almost quiet.

'Alright then…'

He kind of sniffed, as he said that. He didn't know why, but he felt superior to her at the moment. Still it attracted him how she was so quiet and calm and shy, even after such an intimate gesture like what he had done to her a few minutes ago.

'Listen, Kayame, I didn't do that for nothing. I take it you're a smart girl to understand what I meant by that.'

She nodded.

'So, aren't you going to do something about it?'

'I…' she started softer.

It was as if she couldn't speak, even though her lips were moving.

'W-why…?'

'I don't know why. I just felt like doing it. I guess I felt like doing it from the moment I heard what happened yesterday morning. It's up to you to chose it whether you wan' it or not.'

'B-but I … I'm not…'

'You're not what? Don't come up with that fucking bullshit like that you're not for me or you're just a kid and I'm a man or stuffs like I'm weak, you're strong. The deal is simple: we're both grownups, ok? I want you. It's that simple, ok? No other crap'

'Y-you w-want m-me…'

'Stop repeating me like it's the most unusual thing in the world, Kayame. Yeah, I do.'

'B-but…'

'But what?'

Staring at him, seeing him so relaxed, gazing at her with seriousness, it was impossible to believe that he was joking around. Renji Misamoto was serious about everything he had said just now.

'It's simple, isn't it?' he asked again, warmly.

'Y-yes… yes, it is…'

'Alright then. Should I stay with you tonight?'

'Ok…'

Seeing her there, so quiet and shy, he bended over her again and waited for her to move her face towards him, so he could kiss her again.

This time, even though her lips still trembled, she felt somewhat relieved about something. She didn't' know what, but she felt relieved. And a bit stronger than before. Yeah… definitely stronger…


End file.
